Container closure



Feb. 15, 1944. H. M. KULMAN CONTAINER CLOSURE Filed Oct. 28, 1941 INVENTOR fimM/l NM MAM/w BY v ATTORNEYS.

Patented Feb. 1 5, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER CLOSURE Herman M: Kulman, Atlanta, Ga.

Application October 28, 1941, Serial No. 416,781 (01. 215-40) Claims;

The present invention relates to closures for bottles and containers and more particularly to closures of the types that consist of a metal cap and a gasket interposed between the cap and the opposed end of the bottle or other container on which the closure is used, so as to form an airtight joint between the bottle and the cap.

The most common commercial practice in the bottling of carbonated soft drinks and other beverages has been to utilize cork gaskets with the metal caps of the crown or other types extant. The present dearth of cork for such use, because of its diversion for use in thenational defense program, has created a demand for an adequate gasket material which, notwithstanding the national emergency, would be available in quantity at favorable cost and would'have equivalent, if not superior, performance characteristics to the scarcer cork.

In the capping of bottles, particularly with present crowning machines which clamp a' crown cover on the bottle mouth, the crown gaskets must have suflicient elasticity or resiliency to prevent any damage to the bottles by the pressure of the crowning machines which may run as high as 800 lbs. per square inch during crowning. The gasket must also possess suflicient resiliency to recover, i. e., to tend to spring or snap back to original uncompressed shape after the crown has been crimped on the bottle and crowningpressure has been removed in order that an eifective sealing of the bottle contents may be maintained by the crown-held gasket.

There are other properties which a satisfactory gasket material for crown and other stoppers must possess:

1. It should be light.

provide gasket material from which the necessary gaskets maybe manufactured in presently characters denote corresponding parts:

2. It should not have taste imparting proper- I ties to impair the flavor of bottled contents, nor should it have any coloring effect.

3. It should contain no foreign matter or materials likely to fall into the bottled beverages and contaminate the latter.

4. It should be impervious to water and be unaffected by carbon dioxide (CO2) gas or other as s.

5. It should be available commercially in quantity at favorable cost and be unlikely to come under restrictions entailed by the national emergency.

It is an object of this invention to provide gaskets and' gasket material fulfilling the foregoing requirements.

Another object of this invention is to provide gaskets or cushions and material therefor which used disk 'or gasket-making machines.

A further object is to provide gasket material to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof and which shows; merely for the purposes of illustrative disclosure, preferred embodiments of the invention, it being expressly understood,

however, that various changes may be made in practice within the scope of the claims without digressing from the inventive idea.

In the drawing, in which similar reference Fig. 1 is a sectional view of one form of bottle closure embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of this closure;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a closure embodying a modified form of the invention;

Fla. 4 is a perspective view of one manner of preparing the gasket members from rods of gasket material;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of another manner of preparing fromsheets of the gasket material the compressible discs utilized with the closure of Figs. 1 or 3; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the application of the invention to another type of closure.

In the drawing; I0 is an ordinary metallic cover ,or cap of the crown type having aconvoluted rim ll adapted to pass over and be clamped under the lip of a bottle( not shown) in well-known manner.

A cushioning disc I2 is arranged within the cover. This disc must possess all the characteristics hereinabove outlined and is. made either entirely of peanut shells or hulls, or peanut shell or hull composition, or cotton seed hulls, or cotton seed hull composition, or bagasse composition, or a mixture of all or some of these or two of them at least, prepared as will be presently described. The material of the disc as prepared is approximately 2%; of an inch in thickness and approximately 1 and 1% inches in circumference. With such dimensions, it fills substantially the cap I0 to a point-just short of the convoluted rim l I. The disc is firmly adhered to the metal shell. In practice, this is accom-' plished bypresently known method of assembling discs and crowns, i. e., by dropping gutta percha into the crown cup and heating it if] necessary and then assembling the disc with the cap. It may be done'by'providing the disc with a bottom coating or covering I3 which is adapted to adhere to the metal shell so that in shipment and during its presence in the crowning machine the disc will remain firmly attached to the metal cap. Suitable adherents are: gutta percha, albuminous binders such as those now used in the preparation of cork composition discs, tasteless lue and tasteless cement made from coal tar products, proteins, resins, glycerine and casein. A specifically suitable glue is Casco powdered casein glue, manufactured by Casein Co. of America, Div. the Borden Co., New York. Any other suitable adherent which will serve the purpose without harmful efiect on the resilient properties of the disc or on the bottle contents may be used.

In conjunction with the cushioning disc I2, a

facing disc I4 may be provided. This is superimposed upon the face I5 of the disc I2 which lies adjacent the bottle neck when the cover is applied to a bottle. The facing disc I4 is admeasured to cover substantially the entire surface of face I5 and is secured in place on the resilient cushioning disc 12 by use of a suitable bonding agent or adherent such as one of those mentioned above. a

The purpose of the facing disc I4 is to prevent beverages coming in contact with the cushioning disc I2, thus makingthe latter absorption and moisture-proof. For this reason, the facing disc I4 completely covers the surface l5 of the cushioning disc. In practice, for most soft drinks, the facing disc I4 may be made of glazed paper. With beer and ale, the facing disc I4 is or may be a rubber composition material such as the commercial product known asfPliofilm." The two discs I2 and I4 when united comprise a plied unitary disc having a cushioning layer I2 of peanut shells or hulls, or cotton seed hulls or said other materials and a facing layer I4 united therewith and fully or partly covering the outer face I5 of the cushioning layer I2. Facing disc l4 may be made of other suitable materials such as unglazed liquidproofed paper. In other cases it may simply be a layer of suitable liquid or waterproofing material that is impervious to gases and will have no deleterious effects on the bottle contents, for example, commercial products known as Koroseal or Sterilkote, produced by Bradley & Vrooman 00., Chicago, Illinois, waterproofing emul- -sions such as Aridex, produced by the Du Pont Company of Wilmington, Delaware; Migasol,

produced by the Ciba Company, Inc., of New York, N. Y.; Impregnole, produced by the General Dyestufis Corporation, of New York,

N. Y., and tasteless lacquers, proteins and synthetic and natural resins.

Other suitable facing disc material could, for example, be suitable: papers, cotton, rayon or silk or the like material impregnated with Sterilkote or others of the liquid or waterproofing materials just mentioned. I

With some beverages, it is not necessary to provide the facing disc I4. Instead, as shown in Fig. 3, the cushioning disc In of. identical construction and material is substituted for the disc I2. Cushioning, disc In is liquid-or waterproofed with an agent comprising one or more. of the following materials: For example, Pliofilm (in liquid form), Koroseal, Sterilkote" the aforementioned emulsions and tasteless lac quers, proteins, synthetic or natural resins, paraflin -or suitable liquid vegetable waxes. Theliquidor waterproofing of the discs I2a approximately 1 and 1% inches. The contents 75 to 350 Fahrenheit.

course, must be such as not to destroy the cush-.

ioning and sealing properties of the disc I2a. As with disc I2 the disc I20, is adhered suitably to the metal cap Illa by asuitable binder such as that mentioned above. Disc I2a serves both as a cushion and a seal.

Cushioning andsealing discs I2 and I2a made of the materials specified herein are sanitary in all respects, more so in fact than cork discs since composition cork discs are manufactured from cork scraps. Cushioning discs I2 and I2a are neater in appearance, being cleaner looking and,

in addition, meet all necessary sealing requirements.

The discs I2 or [2a may be manufactured simply and cheaply. Preferably, they are manufactured with machinery extant, used heretofore in the production of cork discs.

Peanut shells or hulls are first comminuted by being .ground in a suitable mill to a size that ,will pass approximately 12 /2 mesh screen. The

ground material is mixed with one or more of the binders or adherents hereinbefore described in the proportions of 20 parts by weight (uncompressedy of ground material and 10 to 15 parts by weight. of binder adherent. With different binders, the percentage thereof by weight may range from 5% to% by weight of the ground material. After thorough mixing, the mixture is packed into tubular containers (preferably of metal) and having an internal diameter equal to that ultimately required of the discs, namely,

of each tubular; container is subjected to a high pressure therein ranging from approximately 1000 to 25,000 pounds, depending on the nature of binder and the ground material. While under this pressure, heat is applied to the "tubing to raise its contents to a temperature ranging from This temperature is maintained for a period suflicient to set thecompressed contents. The heating period varies,

ranging from A hour upwards, depending upon the nature of the bidder or adherent and the ground material. When'setting has been completed, the tube is cooled slowly while the pres- I sure is maintained. The contents are then expelled in the form of a cylindrical rod I6. This rod is then passed to a suitable slicing machine, such for example, as that illustrated in U, S. Patent No. 1,259,887, issued March 19, 1918, to Charles E. McManus. This slices discs D of the required thickness for use herein and is adjustable to provide discs having the thickness of discs I2 or of discs I2a, the former being somewhat thinner to allow for the thickness of the facingdisc I4. I

Substantially identical procedure is employed for the preparation of discs made either of peanut shell or hull composition, orof cotton seed hulls, or of cotton seed hull composition, or of bagasse, or of bagasse composition, or of a mixture of one or more of these'with others or peanut shells or hulls. Where a mixture of shells or hulls or composition is used,-any suitable'proportion of each material may be used.

When peanut shell or-hull composition, or cotton seed hull composition or bagasse composition are referred to herein they are intended to desisnate respectively a mixture either of peanut bagasse with one. or more of the following insilk, cotton, rayon, nylon,' linen, wool, coaltor.

.products and other suitable ingredients, and also include synthetic resins of the thermoplastic type, such as the acrylate resins manufactured by Rohm-Haas 00., Philadelphia, Pa... under the name of Rhoplexk or by the Du Pont Co., Wilmington, Delaware, under the name of "Methacrol"; or thermo-setting types such as "Bakelite, which is manufactured by the Bakelite Corporation; or Rhonite/ which is manufactured by Rohm-Haas Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

An altemative way of preparing the discs 12 or In is to prepare a mixture of material, ground to the same degree of fineness, with substantially the same quantity of adherent, used in preparation of the rod-making material just described. The said mixture is then spread over a surface in sufficient thickness to reduce to the required thickness of disc I! or Ila when sub- .iected to a high pressure substantially equal to that used in packing the tubes of the first-described process forming thus a sheet I! of material. This sheet while under pressure is subject to the same heat treatment described with respect to the first process and, after cooling, is removed from the pressure machine and stamped or otherwise cut into the discs I! or In with any suitable apparatus.

In the case of preparation of sheets of material to be cut into discs, if desired; pressing flat by a rolling or other operation on the peanut shells or hulls, or on the cotton seed hulls may be substituted for the grinding up thereof. Otherwise, the process of sheet preparation remains the same as that for ground material. The same is true with respect to bagasse.

Discs I! or Ila are then treated or coated in one of the ways described above and attached, also as described, in the resp tive caps ll or "a.

In a specific example of preparation of crown caps embodying the invention, 20 grams of peanut shells or hulls ground to pass through 12% mesh screen were intimately mixed with 12 grams of albuminous binder known as Crown binder, prepared by the Consolidated Cork Corp., of Brooklyn, N. Y., and used presently for the weparation of cork composition discs, or other presently known crown binders. Other binders such as suitable dextrine adhesives, e. g., those manufactured by Stein Hall & Co., New York, lit-Y, or Com Products Refining Co., New York, may be used. insertedinto a metal tube havin an internal diameter of approximatelyiandflinchesand'subiectedtoapressure of 2000 lbs. being heated gradually while underthatpreuuretofrom145'!'.to200l'. overaperiodofone-halfhour. Tbereaitenstill under pressure, the material was allowed to cool slowly and when cool the. rod thus formed was removed from the metal tube. Discs having a thickness of approximately {I of an inch were thenslldedfromthisrod. Eachof-thesediscs was thencoated with paraflin or the aforementionedlicuidvegetabiewaxby spraying thereon or diwinsthe discsina bath of one of these materials. Discs so treated were then adhered to crown caps Ilia in the position shown in Fig. 3

after suitable application to the abutting faces of the discs and caps of one of the aforementioned adherents, namely, Casco glue. 'The caps lilo so provided were then ready for use on bottles.

The materials of discs I2 or Ha are applicable to other types of closures. illustrates a conventional type of closure used on catsup and other types of bottles. It usually comprises a metallic disc 58 to which is adhered a sealing and cushioning disc I9 which rests directly on the lips 20 of the bottle. posite discs l8 and I9 are maintained in sealing relationship on the bottle by the removable clamping member 2|. As long as the latter is undisturbed it serves to maintain the hermetic seal. Once the bottl has been opened the screw cap '22 alone serves as the closure to prevent access of dlrtto the bottle contents.

The cushioning disc' l9 heretofore has been also are capable of use in ordinary screw cap covers in place of conventional cork or paper gaskets.

It is to be understood that this invention may be modified in detail without departing from the spirit thereof. There is no intention of limitation to the exact .details shown and described.

What is claimed is:

i. In a bottle closure of the type having a metallic-crown cap, a sealing and cushioning member within said cap comprising a disc made of peanut shells or hulls in highly compressed ground form held together by a binder. 2. In abottle closure of the type having a cap, a sealing and cushioning member adhered thereto, said member comprising a disc of ground peanut shells or hulls and a binder, said shells or hulls and said binder being shly compressed. 3. In a bottle closure of the ype having a cap, a sealing andcushioning member adhered thereto, said member comprising multi-ply disc at leastoneof whosopllesil ofground peanutshells or hulls in compressed condition and held together by a binder, and another of whose plies is or liquidand gas-impervious material.

4. Inabottleelosureoithetypehavlngametalliccrowncamalealingandcushioningmembe;- adhered thereto andcomprising adise of -particles of ground compressed peanut shells'or hullsandabinderforholdingnldparticlea Iether.

' 5.1nabottleclosureofthetypehavingametailiccrowncapmsealingandcushioningmem beradheredtheretoandcomprislngadiscofmtlcles of ground compressed peanut shell: or hulls capable of passing through 12% meahlcreen and abinder intimatelymixedwithsaidparticlesand Fig. 6, for example,

The com- 

